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Dinosaur Home  A-Z Dinosaurs List Agathaumas Dinosaur
Agathaumas
Agathaumas ("great wonder") was a ceratopsid like Triceratops.
Relatively little is known about the species, because the only fossils
originate were the sacrum and pelvis of the dinosaur. We do know, however,
that it lived during the Cretaceous period.
Today, most argue that Agathaumas is simply a mislabeled Triceratops.
It was given its name, which refers to its huge size, by paleontologist
Edward Drinker Cope in 1872. It is a nomen dubium, however, and some debate
exists to what Agathaumas is. Cope himself originally supposed it to be
a type of hadrosaur until O. Marsh described Triceratops in 1889.
Artist Charles R. Knight painted the dinosaur for Cope, creating a fantastic-looking
beast, which blended the lengthy facial horns of Triceratops with the
spiked frill of the Styracosaurus. |
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The artwork was exposed years later
by stop-motion animator Willis O'Brien, who used the Agathaumas in the
1925 film The Lost World. The Agathaumas has appeared in a variety of
forms since then, and if those who doubt its existence are correct, it
is one of the more successful imaginary dinosaurs.
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